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thranx on 22 August 2014
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Augen said:
kitler53 said:

i had a big rant ready to post and then i saw your post.   if your statements are true then the story sounds like the story was just written to rile people up to push that weird agenda people like my parents have of trying to protray a "war on religion" in america.

...but just in case:

as an atheist i've got to say,.. this is really stupid.

the point of the freedom of religion in the constitution is to protect the citizens of the united states from any religion receiving preferential or detrimental treatment.  the point is equality in law and to know you'll never be discriminated against by the law.

the point is not to try and pretend that religion doesn't exisit and is important to many of our citizens.  for fucks sake,.. if the US president can  say "god bless" during addresses to our citizens then this girl ought to be able to say it too.  

As it stands, we have a "She said, she said" type scenario.

I agree no one should be persecuated due to their beliefs, I also think it is fair for schools to ask for quiet during class time.  This story comes across as sensationalist to divide people of different backgrounds and cement world views of the "other".

On religion, an individual can state they are religious, but the state cannot endorse a religion. Why the president saying "God Bless America" is fine, but "In God We Trust" on currency is not.

No we dont. we have a they said she said scenario. the students have already complained (multiple) to their pastor, and he is the one who educated them on their rights. Its a teacher who seems to target religous belief. That is not right. And someone mentioned the student was not punished, they were they were sent to in school suspenion for the period. And yes it does violate freedom of speech. She was not yelling "fire" in a crowded building when there was no fire. She simply said bless you after a sneeze.

 

"

Local pastor Becky Winegardner said this wasn't the first time Turner's teacher had clashed with students over religion.

“There were several students that were talking about this particular faculty member there that was very demeaning to them in regard to their faith,” Winegardner told WMC. “This was something that had come up previously in the last few weeks just since the beginning of school, and I shared with all of those students what their rights were.”"

 

http://news.yahoo.com/bless-you-suspension-153852989.html

 

seems like its an ongoing issue, not a one time thing. Its horrible that teachers use their authority to dictate their beliefs. Instead of simply teaching what they should. I wonder what the reacton here would be if it was forced upon students to say bless you after every sneeze? would that be wrong?